Conan: Everybody, we are back. Very good. My first guest is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He’s appeared in numerous films including "ocean’s eleven," "fight club" and "seven." Beginning next friday, you can see him in "troy." Please welcome brad pitt.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Brad Pitt: I can’t help but notice that most of the other talk show hosts get a much bigger studio.
[ Laughter ]
Conan: Exactly. I like the small, confined space here. That would be nice — but you know what? In a smaller space, you really hear that insane reaction.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Brad: We’re doing this for nbc, aren’t we?
Conan: Yeah.
Brad: Aren’t we?
Conan: So few of — hey. [ Laughter ] I don’t know how to feel about that.
Brad: I’ll tell you later.
Conan: Wait, now I do. [ Laughter ] Yeah, I’ll leave it alone, but thank you. You know, of course we all saw the "friends" finale tonight. Wasn’t that something?
Brad: Moving. Moving. [ Laughter ] [ Cheers and applause ] I love that joey.
Conan: You love that joey? Yeah.
Brad: I love that joey.
Conan: Yeah, yeah. Where did you watch it? I’m just curious.
Brad: Backstage.
Conan: Yeah, nice.
Brad: You were there.
Conan: I was there, too. We were drinking. [ Laughter ] Having some good times.
Brad: Did some of that.
Conan: Yeah.
Brad: When rachel did that —
Conan: That crazy thing —
Brad: With ross —
Conan: Yeah, exactly. Wow. [ Laughter ]
Brad: I was inspired.
Conan: You were inspired. Let me ask you something. Of course, you and your wife, jennifer, are just so scrutinized by people. Everyone wants the inside scoop.
Brad: I’m gonna give it to you here.
Conan: I want to hear the inside scoop, and you’re going to hear it for the first time ever. Is it true that jennifer sleepwalks?
Brad: True.
Conan: That’s true?
Brad: True story, yes, she often — she gets a lot done when she’s asleep. [ Light laughter ] She’ll, like — I think you’ve heard this story. I caught her outside one night. The alarm was going off, and I found her outside — literally, she had to negotiate through, like, three or four rooms, and I find her standing outside. We were living on the cliff that time. It was not good. Other times, I’ll hear drawers opening and closing in the other room, and I figure, "I’ll just go back to sleep, she’ll be back. She’ll get some stuff done." [ Laughter ]
Conan: That could be a burglar, by the way. That could be someone robbing you.
Brad: No, that was my wife.
Conan: Now, does she also speak, too?
Brad: She speaks a lot. Yeah, we’ve had some of our best conversations. [ Laughter ] Really moving. I think the latest one, she went on some five-minute dissertation on the need for "tuesdays with morrie" in our contemporary society or something like that.
Conan: Wow.
Brad: She gets in there. I learned a lot.
Conan: Wow, wow. She’s teaching you things.
Brad: She is. But my favorite one was a few years back, and I’m laying there, and it’s deathly silent. Not — I can’t sleep. She’s sleeping peacefully, and all of a sudden, I hear, "bring on the young men in uniform!"
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Conan: I don’t want to know what that means. Sadly, I say that, too. [ Laughter ] Different connotation. I want to talk to you — I have loved your performances in a lot of movies. "Fight club," "seven," "a river runs through it." But you played a character that I thought was hilarious in "true romance," a stoner character.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Brad: Thank you. Thank you.
Conan: I thought, "did you know someone like that?" Where did you base that on — that character?
Brad: Method.
Conan: Method?
Brad: Method, baby. A lot of research.
Conan: A lot of research?
[ Laughter ]
Brad: A lot of in-depth research and character study, and I think it adds that extra 5% that we need.
Conan: Right, right. You could even add after that kind of research. [ Laughter ] 7%. Let’s talk about "troy." You — I saw this movie just yesterday, and I loved it. And I was curious. I’ve heard you talk about this, but there’s actually real history in this film. You had to learn some greek history for this movie, didn’t you?
Brad: Yes, I did. I did a lot of research.
Conan: Sort of to prepare — talk about preparing.
Brad: No, wait, you were in the screening with, like, diane sawyer and others?
Conan: Mike nichols, diane sawyer, yeah. It was, like, the four of us.
Brad: Did you guys get into little, like — do you, like, throw things? Do you, like, munch popcorn?
Conan: Yeah, that’s just what I’m gonna do is bounce an ashtray off diane sawyer.
[ Laughter ]
Brad: You got the shot.
Conan: She started to talk behind me to mike nichols, and I was, like, "shut up! Shut up!" [ Laughter ] That went really well.
Brad: Good, good.
Conan: People love it when you scream at diane sawyer.
Brad: Good, good, good.
Conan: But what did you learn about greek history preparing for this role?
Brad: Well, they —
[ Laughter ]
Conan: You liar! You learned absolutely nothing.
Brad: I did. I read the book. I swear I read the book. They were a fierce bunch.
Conan: Uh-huh, right.
[ Laughter ]
Brad: They liked to fight a lot, liked to war.
Conan: Is it true that the greek warriors fought — a lot of times fought naked?
Brad: This is true, conan. This is true.
Conan: ‘Cause that is not depicted in this film.
Brad: It is not.
Conan: And a lot of people are gonna be angry about that.
Brad: Because otherwise, it would be called "caligula."
[ Laughter ]
Conan: Yeah, yeah.
Brad: But, yes. I didn’t understand why they would go to great, great, great lengths to cover the torso with bronze. They covered the head. They covered the shins, yet they left the vitals open. [ Laughter ] And the whole idea was to protect from a kill shot, from what I understand, but the tackle was free. [ Laughter ] If we went for realism, it’d be a bit frightening.
Conan: Yeah, yeah. It’s available, though, on cinemax. You can see it there. [ Laughter ] What is it — so there would be no armor there, because that’s where I would want all the armor. "I want a lot of it!"
[ Laughter ]
Brad: Unless it meant to scare your opponent.
Conan: Thank you. [ Laughter ] Thanks for that assumption. You’re wrong, but thank you.
[ Laughter ]
Brad: I wasn’t talking about you.
[ Laughter ]
Conan: Oh. [ Laughter ] So, I guess this interview’s over. You worked very hard physically to prepare for this role.
Brad: Yes, I did, true story.
Conan: Tell us about that. How hard did you work to get physically ready for this film?
Brad: It was grueling. It was grueling. I started out, like, six or seven months beforehand with the sword training, the fight work, and hours in the gym, which was not fun.
Conan: Did you do more physical training for this movie than any other movie?
Brad: That is true also, conan.
[ Laughter ]
Conan: See, that’s the way they should promote the film, like, "finally, a film where brad pitt gets in shape." [ Laughter ] You know? He’s been — "everything you’ve seen before is a slob compared to this guy." [ Laughter ] No? I think these are good ideas. Then again, I drive a taurus. [ Laughter ] You know, it must have been cool to work with peter o’toole. You have an amazing scene with peter o’toole, and it’s
Brad: I was looking forward to that scene. It’s one of the great scenes, and it’s literature with one of the classic actors, and I can’t — it’s actors, but when he’s better, I’m better. When I’m better, he’s better.
Conan: That’s great.
Brad: It’s all about feeding off each other.
Conan: What a great thing, though.
Brad: It’s really a high. It’s what we live for, those moments, yeah.
Conan: We have a clip here from the movie, and this is a pretty amazing fight scene, I believe, with you and hector, is that right?
Brad: Eric bana, played by eric bana.
Conan: Anything else we need to know?
Brad: I think that covers it.
Conan: Wow. No one’s ever done it. People always go into a 40-minute, "and then this guy, and then that guy, and then they go, and they find the robot." But this is nice. [ Laughter ] Take a look.
Brad: You won’t have eyes tonight. You won’t have ears or a tongue. You will wander the underworld blind, deaf and dumb, and all the dead will know this is hector, a fool who thought he killed achilles.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Conan: That doesn’t even touch the surface of the fighting that’s going on in this movie. I gotta hand it to you — [ Cheers and applause ] You also — I mean, we all know you can pull off that costume. Very few guys could pull off the greek costumes that you’re wearing in here. I compliment you.
Brad: You mean men in skirts?
Conan: Yeah, it’s a hard thing to do.
Brad: I don’t think so. I think you got it.
Conan: Not me, I don’t got it.
Brad: I brought you one.
Conan: You brought me one?
Brad: I brought you one. [ Cheers and applause ] I brought you one. Bring on the armor!
Conan: I don’t —
Brad: Give it a shot?
Conan: All right.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Brad: Conan the vegetarian.
Conan: Well, this is something absolutely nobody wanted to see tonight. Very nice. All right, we’re gonna take a break, and I’m gonna return the favor. I want to thank you for being here. I want to tell you that "troy" opens next friday, and brad, I’m giving it to you, the keys to my sweet ride.
Brad: No? [ Cheers and applause ] All right.
Conan: He’s a good man! Brad pitt! Janet jackson’s coming up! We’ll take a break.